How to Prepare for a Court Hearing

I came up with this topic yesterday during an appearance in court. While walking to the court room, I saw a commotion in a hallway caused by a couple fighting for custody. Each one of them had a group of people with them. As they were approaching the court room, getting ready to go in for their hearing, they were shouting and screaming at each other in the hallway with their children behind them. This made me think about things that we take for granted and just assume are common knowledge. So I thought I would just address it, because sometimes I guess it’s not so common.

So, how do you to prepare for a court hearing? First and foremost, if you have an attorney, go ahead and sit down with your attorney, go over you case, let the attorney explain to you what that particular hearing is about and sort of manage expectations for that hearing and be prepared for the results that you want. If you don’t have an attorney, then I still suggest that you do the same thing only by yourself and just make sure that you have all your documents prepared and organized.

While the content of your case is extremely important in preparing for trial, for the purpose of this video I want to talk about how to prepare for a hearing based on your behavior and your appearance.

First and foremost, dress appropriately. Make sure that you don’t wear short shorts, ripped jeans, open toe shoes, low cut tops, things to that effect that will detract from the message that you’re trying to send to the judge. Remember we only have one chance at a first time impression and you don’t want your good case to be tainted by the judge having a different perception of you because of you appearance.

Secondly, don’t be late. Always be on time to court, I can’t tell you how many times we have been in court waiting for the other side to appear. It upsets the judges, upsets the clerks, upsets everyone involved. It sends a wrong message, so try to always be on time.

Thirdly, Gum is not allowed in the court rooms. If you do bring gum into the court room, you will be asked to throw it away. So keep the gum out of the court room.

Finally, No fighting with the other side. Either outside the court room or before you go into the court room. Try to be civil. I understand that family law in particular is a very emotionally challenging topic, people are heated and there are a lot of emotions involved and it’s easy to start attacking each other. Refrain from doing this. It only hurts your case if you do that. Be cool, collected and act professional. When the judge asks you a question, just clearly respond to the question, do not attack the other side and do not attack the other side’s attorney. Like I said, act professional and you’ll have a better chance to present your case and get a better chance at the winning outcome.

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